EDITORIAL: Prophecies needed for coming year

Posted: 1/05/07

EDITORIAL:
Prophecies needed for coming year

A few years ago, (Actually, exactly seven years ago, January 2000. Remember Y2K?) our Sunday school quarterly focused on apocalyptic literature—mystical passages from the Old Testament books of Zechariah and Daniel, as well as mesmerizing passages from the New Testament book of Revelation. The first Sunday, our classroom nearly burst. We started the lesson several minutes late because we had to haul in chairs for all the folks who came to hear the teacher predict The End of the World as We Know It.

Within 30 minutes, I conducted the most effective ensmallment campaign in the history of Sunday school. The majority of our first-time visitors weren’t impressed when I told them: “Every passage in the Bible meant something to the people who first heard or read it. Sustained by the power of the Holy Spirit, it meant something to each succeeding generation. Thank God, it also means something for us today. But we would be indescribably arrogant to assume biblical prophecy meant nothing to all the believers in all the years up until now and was written only for people alive today.” Most of the newcomers never came back. If you can’t get the inside scoop on what the Mark of the Beast really looks like and determine the true identity of the Antichrist, why bother with Bible study?

This episode returned to memory Jan. 2, when televangelist Pat Robertson predicted a terrorist attack would produce “mass killing” in the United States this year. Oh, really. This from the TV preacher who predicted the U.S. coast would be “lashed by storms” and the Pacific Northwest would be smashed by “something as bad as a tsunami,” both of which could happen randomly but both of which have not come true.

When you think about it, you can understand why religionists like Robertson stir up a following. People are curious. They want to know the future, whether it’s the next terrorist attack, or a wave the size of Mount Rushmore, or the date when Jesus returns. That’s why pastors who put on “biblical prophecy” seminars make money. Problem is, people confuse prophecy with prediction or, as Beth Newman of the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond calls it, fortunetelling. But prophecy is something entirely different. “In Scripture, the prophets deliver a word from the Lord that always carries with it a self-judgmental call to repent, to turn to God, to be God's people,” Newman explains.

Instead of glitzy, scary or phantasmagoric predictions, we need true biblical prophecy—application of God’s word, the Bible, for our times. This is incredibly hard to do. For starters, prophecy requires courage. When you read the Old Testament, you realize prophets told people what they didn’t want to hear and got in trouble for it. Prophecy also demands humility. A true prophet stands under the prophecy delivered to others; a prophet delivers a call for everybody to repent. Finally, prophecy requires hope. In the short run, prophecy always sounds like bad news. But the prophet believes that if God’s people hear and heed, God will heal.

Prophecy isn’t nearly as fun as prediction. Still, it’s much more important. In 2007, we need to hear prophetic words on many subjects. Some of them include:

• Immigration and education. These are the two greatest public challenges facing Texas. They won’t be resolved as long as the governor and legislators treat them as wedge issues to create political leverage.

• Darfur. Genocide in Sudan—fueled by ethnic hatred and justified by religion—is an indictment against all humanity. We must not look away.

• Clergy sexual abuse. Although the vast majority of pastors and priests are upright and moral, clergy who prey on women and children threaten the cause of Christ and could cripple the church.

• Taxes versus children. We want government to be responsible with our money. But where did so many citizens get the notion all taxation is evil? Something is wrong with our morals when we cut services to poor children in order to provide tax breaks to the rich. (Don’t just say, “It’s the church’s job.” No church does its share to provide all the human services for all the poor in its community. Besides, why should the heathen get a pass on helping others?)

• Iraq. We’re for democracy. We love and respect our troops. Most of us care about Iraqis. But we need divine guidance out of this quagmire.

• Faith and life. The religious right’s political attempt to force its worldview upon others failed, as it should. Faith isn’t about coercion, but persuasion. To be authentic, faith must be free.

Marv Knox is editor of the Baptist Standard.